Alive and Anticipating

Saturday August 02, 2008


Hi everyone!

It continues to be a weird summer here in Eastern Ontario, with hot humid weather and rain/lightning/thunder almost every day. I trust you are surviving – no better than that – thriving as you enjoy vacation time, family time, outdoor time. Soon Yvonne and I will be heading to Calgary Alberta and Creston British Columbia for two weeks. I’ll tell you more about that next week – it will be both recreation and ministry.

Last Sunday at Church was so cool as we welcomed many visitors. What a blessing to welcome guests from Temperance, Michigan; Palm Springs, California, West Virginia; Woodstock, Ontario; Manitoba … and we have a new family with four children who have just moved here from Scarborough … I’m excited that they all chose to be at First in Brockville! (mini lecture time: I sure hope you are making the same effort to attend a church when you are on vacation! It is always good to visit new congregations and pick up some new ideas, it refreshes your soul to worship in new ways, and it blesses other churches when they receive guests. So remember to pick up a copy of the worship bulletin to give me upon your return – I like to see what is happening in other churches.)

Actually the ‘blessing high’ continued all week. We held our final DYD (Discover Your Design) class on Tuesday, and the graduates were all agreed on how marvelously this has improved their walk with the Lord and focused their desires to serve more effectively. And then the informal memorial service for Lilo Schilkin at St. Lawrence Lodge on Thursday was inspiring and comforting. Thanks to First Church people who attended.

And it is not over. Next Tuesday, August 5, we hold our “Alpha Reunion”. It will be a pot-luck dinner (bring lots, some of us get real hungry on Tuesdays!) at the Manse (12 Church Street) @ 6:30 pm. We will watch a new DVD teaching presentation by Nicky Gumbel and have some informal discussion. Please Note: THIS IS OPEN TO ALPHA GRADS AND THEIR GUESTS. We want to spread the word on how great this experience/program is and plant the ‘participation seed’ for the next time the course is offered. If no one has yet invited you, I am doing that now. You can come as the guest of Yvonne and Doug okay? Come check it all out.

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So this was last week’s theme. The church in Sardis was in dire straits, but not yet shipwrecked. There was still some hope – but it would require an ‘attitude adjustment’. Isn’t it strange how we all want it to be someone else, some other ‘sleepy’ church to go through such repentance/renewal/priority transformation. Drowsiness, laziness, pride: they are all ‘bed partners’ constantly hitting the snooze button when God gives his wake-up call. Personally, I consider church # 5, Sardis, and church #7, Laodicea, to be the ones receiving the harshest words from Jesus. The Sardis Church had taken on the non-life of its famous cemetery! Reputation can carry one right to the grave yard! But there was still hope that the faithful few could influence and work some spiritual CPR.

Tomorrow I am pleased to dwell on some more positive news: ‘Open Doors’ of ministry and promise. Have you ever heard these words from the powerful hymn The Holy City? “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, sing for the night is o’er….” Right out of this Scripture in Revelation 3 and another we will read tomorrow, Revelation 21. I want to motivate us to look forward, to anticipate. I’m pumped about this message and will devote a few more hours of prep & study tonight. Hope you will join us tomorrow at 9:30 am, or for those of you not in Brockville, I trust you will take a few minutes to give your allegiance to God at your own local church. Enjoy this long weekend.

Doug Johns